January 03, 2015

December 27, 2014

I will finish this project. I will finish this project. I will finish this project.I will....

Week 40. Austin turned 18 (what??). I didn't include any journaling for these weeks, which feels okay right now.

Week 41. Funny how calm the color scheme ended up in this one. (This is how we roll is a Kelly Purkey digital stamp that I modified a bit.)

Week 42. These weeks were filled with stories. Let's be honest...it's unlikely that I'll go back and add journaling, but it's possible.

My goal in the next few days is simply finish this album. It doesn't have to be pretty. It definitely won't be perfect. But...it will be done. And for a year where I fought Project Life? That feels like victory.

December 21, 2014

It's the official start of winter - the shortest day & the longest night - but from this day forward, we're headed toward the light. We celebrated with an impromptu (homemade) pizza dinner, a bottle of wine, and logs in the fireplace. After dinner, we both wrote down a list of things/emotions/reactions that we're releasing...and then tossed the papers into the fire. Although not exactly ceremonial, it felt good to honor the day with a ritual. We then settled onto the couch to get a little work done...honoring the intentions that we've both made to get shit done.

I'm spending the next two days in NYC, and then coming home for an extra-long holiday weekend. I'll carve out time to finish up #reverb14, December Daily, and Project Life. So ready for a creative clean slate.

December 17, 2014

It seems that after 20 years in New England, I've become conditioned to think of December as cold & snowy...so I'm a bit disoriented (happily so) to be in Florida during the holiday season. It has been the perfect way to hit pause on busy-ness and chaos. Great company, delicious food, sunshine, and laughter...that's what comfort & joy look like right now.

November 28, 2014

I took my "big" camera out, with the intention of capturing the holiday in perfect exposure. The reality is that I was busy cooking...and talking...and directing the opening of another bottle of wine. So my grand plans resulted in less than a half-dozen photographs.

We had pies, of course...and cheesecake bars, the most perfect artisan bread (if I do say so myself), a variety of a vegetarian-friendly sides, and a turkey for the meat-eaters. No one left the table hungry!

I had an able sous-chef who was only slightly distracted with a book...

and a sweet boy who reminded everyone that holidays are good for resting.

November 11, 2014

I spent some time speed-Project-Life-ing on Sunday night - determined to finish off a few weeks that I'd started and planning to tackle the month of Sept in one fell swoop. For me, catch up looks like this: my "faves" channel playing on Spotify, a bold glass of red within arm's reach, grabbing photos from iPhoto without over-analyzing, and relying on blog & social media posts to fill in details that I may have forgotten. The result? Super simple weeks with minimal info...and that's okay.

Week 29 - I included my How Are You?blog post b/c it really told the story that I wanted to tell for this week.

Week 30. Note the lack of journaling. Should I add more? Maybe. Or...maybe these pictures are enough. That's the constant questioning, right?

Week 31. I do fully intend to add journaling to the sky on the photo in the lower left. This week was all about our visit to RISD. There's an insert that isn't shown - a simple, graphic greeting card from the school.

Week 32. Don't love the rather dull color scheme - but that's what I had. That sunflower, though.

Week 35. One side + a 4x6 insert. Again - very little journaling. Perhaps the summer of 14 was just about the visual? This week wraps up August. I was feeling pretty weary of the "catch up" work, so I decided to tackle Sept in one fell swoop. Photo collage + hashtags FTW!

Keeping my eye on the finish line for this project. I'll catch up on October soon (yep, that guymakes an appearance again!), and will embrace what Nov & Dec bring. Even though Project Life hasn't come easy to me this year, I'm still super glad that I'm doing it.

I'd love to see more PL inspiration to give me some energy for the rest of the year. Please share your links in the comments!

Week 28. I'm thinking that I'll add a few journaling strips to the cookie packaging - this recipe from Shutterbean has been my go-to for desserts this summer. Oh, and that's Austin's "do we really have to take a selfie??" face. That kid. (font: nexa bold)

July 03, 2014

I rarely re-do cards/pages in Project Life, but I did replace the memorial card in Week 21. I just wanted it to feel a bit more special, so I used one of Ali Edward's digi stamps (from way back)....

And then I moved on to June. I was determined to "catch up" so that I didn't start resenting this project. I know that we talk alot about this project being easy & no-pressure, so I'll be clear in saying that I wanted to catch up for me. I like my weekend ritual of working on the previous week - and the weekday ritual of posting pages on the blog - so catching up was important to me.

Week 22. The picture in the top left is from Hope. She frequently texts me, and sometimes includes pictures from her tree-planting camp in Northern Ontario. She often says "this is for your Project Life thingy." Ha! Hello digi-stamp is from Pixels & Co. Even though I was working through a month at a time, I still took the time to add small elements - I'm always super simple, but little details still make me smile.

Week 23. A super full week b/c I was in San Francisco for work (& friends).

I started to just include this selfie, but then decided to make it more about what I was feeling as I headed "home" to the west coast. The quote is from my Pinterest "truth" board. I reduced the opacity of the photo to about 60% to allow the words to stand out.

More Week 23. I miss you, California.

Week 24. Not a lot of words, and I'm going to be okay with that. Quick trip to NYC. Loving that b&w conversions help to doctor up indoor lighting fails.

Week 25. Busy. Sunsets. Dark & Stormys. Popsicles.

Week 26. I knew that I wanted to use a 6x8 page to end the album. I originally intended to do a full page photo - but didn't have one that was "worthy." So I opted for a simple strip of colorful photos, grounded by my beloved kraft cardstock.

And that wraps up Volume 1 of 2014. It feels good. I closed with a few highlights using one of Cathy Zielske's Weekly Wrap-Up templates. I'll be working on the cover page for Volume 2 this weekend.

July 02, 2014

I've bounced around a lot with monthly goal setting this year. I've tried to follow the lead of people who inspire me (like Lee and Elise), and set four firm goals. Sometimes, that creates focus. Sometimes, it just adds to the noise, and results in rushing back to the list at the last minute to see if I can accomplish everything in the last day or two of the month. Sometimes, it just feels uninspiring - simply 4 more things on my to-do list.

1. a self-care practice - I'm already in love with Bella's 31 Days in July. It's familiar in some ways, and stretching my comfort zone in others.

2. a photography practice - even though my iPhone is constantly with me, there are still days that I don't take a single photo. Wanting to change that. Photos help me see my life from a different perspective.

3. a meditation practice - I have been super consistent about meditation this year, and I will continue to practice in July.

4. a movement practice - I've gotten off track thanks to travel & work & life. Wanting to incorporate more movement, in many forms - walking, running, biking, yoga. I haven't been to barre in a while (I miss you, Hermine!), but know that I will return at some point.

5. a vision boarding practice - in the workshops that I facilitate for co-workers, we coach a lot of visioning - what do they want the business to look like? What does success look like? In July, I'm going to devote some time to applying those principles to my own life - through the vision board in my office, my Pinterest boards, and my vision book.